Season 2, Episode 1
Original air date: November 21, 1988
Star date: 42073.1

Mission summary

As a shuttlecraft from U.S.S. Repulse drops off Enterprise’s new chief medical officer, Dr. Leonard McCoy Katherine Pulaski, the recently promoted Chief Engineer La Forge shows off his elaborate new containment module to Captain Picard and Commander Riker, who is showing off his new beard. The modules have been designed with completely independent environments, the better to transport dangerous specimens of a plasma plague from ’aucdet IX to a science station for research.

Meanwhile, Commander Data detects a “random energy transference”—a small light that enters the ship through its aft hull and flits through corridors and crew quarters until it darts under Counselor Troi’s blanket and enters her body, uh, aft. Troi wakes up all hot and bothered.

Captain Picard hunts down Dr. Pulaski in Ten Forward, miffed that she’s gone straight to a bar instead of reporting in. He finds his new doctor there with her first patient: Troi. He immediately calls a meeting with senior staff to share the counselor’s happy news: She’s pregnant! “She is going to have a baby,” Picard clarifies. And the alien fetus is growing rather quickly—she’ll give birth in less than two days. Worf supports abortion while Data defends the baby as a new life form to study, but Riker is more concerned with who or what the father is. It seems the baby breeding inside Troi is based only on her DNA: a half-human half-Betazoid, like her. Troi decides she’s going to keep it.

As Troi’s pregnancy continues at warp speed, the ship arrives at ’audet IX and beams up Hester Dealt, a medical trustee in charge of the plasma plague transfer who insists on checking La Forge’s modules thoroughly until he’s certain they’re safe. Data stays by Troi’s side as Dr. Pulaski delivers the baby, Ian Andrew Troi, with security standing by to watch the miracle of life in case it’s dangerous, and Riker watching because he’s creepy and wistful. Troi has the easiest delivery ever—and shortly after giving birth, it’s as if she’s never carried a child at all! Meanwhile, little Ian already appears to be a talking four-year-old boy at only a day old. This precocious kid could give resident boy genius Wesley Crusher a run for his credits. He politely greets Picard: “Hello. Please don’t worry. Everything is okay.” The captain looks far from reassured by this freakish display.

Gratuitous puppies!!!

Now eight years old, Ian is playing with a litter of puppies and some other kids, when Troi picks him up from day care. “He wants to touch and feel everything,” Miss Gladstone says, with a weird smile. Right. A little while later, the boy demonstrates this by intentionally burning his finger in a bowl of hot soup—just for the experience. Picard gently questions him about his intentions, but Ian is not yet ready to reveal his reason for being there.

Chief O’Brien!!!

The transporter chief beams up the plasma plague samples to La Forge’s containment modules, which are supposed to store them in stasis and prevent them from growing. Apparently these specimens are so deadly, if one of the mildest strains gets loose on the ship, it will kill everyone within a few hours. So they’ve evacuated non-essential personnel to the saucer section… just in case. Which seems fortunate, since one of the samples starts growing in response to the unexplained presence of rare Eichner radiation onboard. Gosh, what could be causing that?

Ian knows the jig is up. He voluntarily ends his corporeal life and dies in Troi’s arms. The lifeless body transforms back into a ball of light, delivers some telepathic exposition to his mom (“Sorry for violating you, I just wanted to see what it was like to be human!”), and zips off to impregnate some other unsuspecting person out of curiosity or boredom. As soon as the light leaves the ship, the growing plague sample settles down and all is well, except for the grieving Troi.

With everything back to normal and all of the crew determined never to mention this bizarre event ever again, they drop off the plasma plague samples and Dr. Dealt, who wavers between optimism and negativity at their prospects of finding a cure. La Forge is just worried that they went through all of this for nothing, as well he should be.

Bolstered by advice from Guinan (the wise and witty bartender in Ten Forward), Wesley requests permission to remain onboard Enterprise instead of returning to Earth to live with his mother, the new head of Starfleet Medical. Picard contains his overwhelming enthusiasm and pretends to mull it over on the Bridge.

PICARD: Ensign Crusher has requested to remain on the Enterprise.
RIKER: I’m not surprised. How did you respond?
PICARD: I haven’t as yet, Number One. I didn’t think it was my responsibility alone. His remaining will create difficulties for us all.
RIKER: Yes, indeed. With his mother gone, who will see to his studies?
PICARD: Exactly. Of course, that duty will fall to Commander Data.
RIKER: And who will tuck him in at night?
WESLEY: Come on, Commander.
WORF: I will accept that responsibility.
TROI: Well, we know he’ll get his sleep.
PICARD: That takes care of the practical, but there’s more to growing up than that. It’s my belief, Number One, that you’re best qualified to supervise that. Are you willing to serve?
RIKER: Difficult decision. Yes, I can do that.
PICARD: Well, Mr. Crusher, communicate with your mother at Starfleet Medical headquarters. Give her my regards, and tell her you have my permission to remain on the Enterprise, but I will abide by her wishes.
WESLEY: Yes, sir. Thank you, sir. I know she’ll agree.

At the navigation station, Acting Ensign Crusher lays in a course for Morgana Quadrant and they’re off! The prepubescent human adventure continues…

Analysis

At first blush, I was kind of surprised that this episode wasn’t quite as bad as I remembered. Perhaps following so closely on the heels of the lackluster first season, it simply improved in comparison. Although the way the A and B plots intersected was just as contrived as ever, the pacing of the episode feels tighter and the writing is decent with less clunky exposition, though some of that could be attributed to the fact that this was adapted from a preexisting script in the wake of the infamous writers strike.

I also think the direction and cinematography was a step up from most of what we’ve seen before, with some interesting shots and camera angles and movements—both on set and outside the ship—which made the episode feel more dynamic and interesting. I quite liked the choice of muffling the discussion about the baby while focusing close on Troi and a heartbeat as she makes the decision to keep it. This also, perhaps more practically, distracted from the fact that Worf is arguing for terminating the pregnancy, in case that horribly offended some viewers. I appreciated that they had this discussion, though Picard handled the situation remarkably poorly—and I was glad to see that it ultimately fell to what Troi wanted to do, though it’s strange that she never appears to resent this alien violation of her body. Her emotional responses to the whole situation feels off, even for an alien encounter that doesn’t proceed by the books.

There’s also more for viewers to enjoy outside of the ongoing story, thank goodness. The sets have been tweaked since the previous season and there have been numerous promotions and changes: Worf, La Forge, and O’Brien now sport their familiar gold uniforms for operations, and Worf has a nicer baldric and overall appearance. The biggest changes and additions (other than Riker’s facial hair) are of course the introduction of Ten Forward, Guinan, and Dr. Pulaski.

I don’t know if we’re meant to assume that Ten Forward and Guinan have always been on board Enterprise, but characters certainly act like they’ve known her for a while. Whoopi Goldberg is a remarkable addition to the cast, easily the best actor on the show alongside Patrick Stewart; no wonder they are so often paired with each other. I love the new dynamic she provides, as someone who can advise everyone—even the captain. Her scenes with Wesley are my favorites of the entire episode, with some of the best writing.

GUINAN: What do you see when you look out there?
WESLEY: The Lorenze cluster, and there Arneb and there Epsilon Indi.
GUINAN: That’s not what I mean. I mean, when you look there, don’t you see your future?
WESLEY: It’ll still be there.
GUINAN: How about a cup of nectar direct from Prometheus?
WESLEY: No, nothing. That’s the third time you’ve asked me.
GUINAN: It’s what I’m expected to do. Don’t you always do what’s expected?
WESLEY: I try.
GUINAN: Even if it’s not what you really want?
WESLEY: Sometimes. Sometimes it’s more important to consider others before yourself.
GUINAN: Yes. But sometimes the game is to know when to consider yourself before others. Give yourself permission to be selfish.

First of all, this is not at all the advice most people would expect, but it’s exactly what Wes needs to hear. (What the writers needed to keep him on the show, anyway.) But her whole manner is refreshing and strangely comforting. I also wonder, in a way, if she’s teasing some knowledge about Wesley’s fate as a Traveler—beyond his desire to be on a starship. That’s probably reading way too much into it, but I sure hope Picard’s thinking about what he was told of Wesley’s potential. (I also like that we see the ship enter warp via the windows in Ten Forward. Very cool!)

I never really disliked Dr. Pulaski, but that may also be because when I first saw the second season, I knew she was only temporary, and thus interesting as a change of pace. Admittedly, she is a bit too much like Dr. McCoy right off the bat, though her avoiding the transporter was pretty subtle in this episode. Her only fault to me is her apparent instant dislike for Data—and this time around, it seemed she was more amused and interested in him than anything. Friendly rivalry like Bones and Spock, obviously, but I didn’t mind it overly much. I was a little thrown off by how brusque and curmudgeonly Picard seems in this episode though, both to the doctor and Wesley. I suppose he misses Beverly, but still, he can’t even remember Pulaski’s name?

As for the actual plot… Well, I could barely figure out what was going on with those plague samples, which seemed like some kind of an afterthought and really had no major impact on anything. Their mission was unclear from the start, and really, wouldn’t it be better to bring scientists to the planet to study the disease rather than risk contaminating other ships and planets, a plan which requires someone to invent an entirely new storage unit for this specific purpose in a hurry? It would have been more interesting to focus on Ian a bit more. I can almost figure out a way of linking the two storylines—something handwavey about accelerated growth and new life, maybe Ian becoming infected and somehow creating a cure, I don’t know—but there isn’t enough there.

I did, however, like that there’s a little subplot going with Data and his own fascination with life and being human. Having him there with Troi was a lovely touch, and it seems they could have explored that theme more through this alien being.

Overall, though it’s still a bit rough, the show seems more assured than it did at the end of the previous season, more closely resembling what it will be later. The cast has truly settled into their roles: Marina Sirtis has reined in her overacting a little and Wil Wheaton brings more maturity and gravitas to Wesley. At first I resented Picard and Riker discussing Wesley on the Bridge as if he weren’t there, which seemed kind of insulting, like what you would do to a kid, but then I realized it was friendly ribbing—showing he was really part of the crew now. It was funny too, especially Worf’s line about tucking him in at night. Because of nice little character moments like this throughout, I left this episode feeling much more positive about it and the future of the show.

Eugene’s Rating: Warp 3 (on a scale of 1-6)

Thread Alert: What are things coming to when we can’t even pick on our old standbys, Wesley and Troi, for fashion disasters? Their new regular uniforms don’t look half bad, a major improvement over their previous outfits. Even Troi’s maternity clothes aren’t worth mocking. I thought about calling out Dr. Dealt’s isolation suit, which probably doesn’t work as well with the face mask down, but fortunately we can always count on the children to showcase truly poor costume decisions. Ian’s shirt isn’t the worst thing to assault our eyeballs, but it isn’t good either, especially with that hair. He gets his fashion sense from his mother, naturally.

Best Line: DATA: My name. It is pronounced Data.
PULASKI: Oh?
DATA: You called me Da(h)ta.
PULASKI: What’s the difference?
DATA: One is my name. The other is not.

Trivia/Other Notes: This episode was a rewrite of Summers and Povill’s unproduced script “The Child” for Star Trek Phase II, recyled because of the Screen Writers’ Guild strike that delayed production on season 2. In the original draft, it is Ilia who is impregnated, and her child helps save the ship. Maurice Hurley maintains that he borrowed the story but never read the script. I call shenanigans. Povill recently adapted the script again for the fan-produced Star Trek Phase II.

Jonathan Frakes grew his beard during the filming hiatus. Supposedly, Gene Roddenberry polled the audience at a convention he and Frakes attended and they were all in favor of keeping the facial hair, as were the producers.

Obviously, Gates McFadden did not return this season. New actors Diana Muldaur (Pulaski) and Whoopi Goldberg (Guinan) receive only guest star credit on the show, at their request. Goldberg specifically asked for a part on the show through her friend LeVar Burton (La Forge).

Wesley gets his own commbadge along with his grey acting ensign’s uniform, but his commbadge is silver instead of the standard silver and gold. It also switches from scene to scene.

Chief O’Brien figures out that they’ve been using the transporters wrong all this time, and begins utilizing the glowing stripes on the transporter console, swiping his hand over them to energize the beam a la the sliding controls on the original series.

Ten Forward makes its first appearance in the series, located on deck 10, Forward Station 1.

Director Rob Bowman requested and received permission to use additional cameras and equipment for this episode.

About Eugene Myers

E(ugene).C. Myers was assembled in the U.S. from Korean and German parts. He has published four novels and short stories in various magazines and anthologies, most recently 1985: Stori3s from SOS. His first novel, Fair Coin, won the 2012 Andre Norton Award for Young Adult SF and Fantasy. He currently writes for the science fiction serial ReMade from Serial Box Publishing.

31 Comments

1.Toryx

Posted June 7, 2012 at 8:56 AM

I’ve got to admit that Riker’s beard, alone, improved the show for me. I know that’s silly and superficial but no less true.

I’m also a big fan of Whoopi Goldberg’s arrival and kind of wish that she appeared on shows like this more often.

Worf’s general appearance (i.e. makeup) is also a huge improvement. 1st Season Worf-face always irritates me a little.

As for Pulaski: I kind of wanted to like her but she was so obviously a carbon copy of McCoy from the start that I just couldn’t do it. And her outright prejudice against Data just sealed the deal. Still, I never felt the animosity toward her that a lot of other TNG fans do.

The plot was pretty meh and the ‘infiltration’ of the alien lifeform into Troi’s womb without introduction irritates me more every time I see the episode but I still find this a lot more palatable than most of Season 1. If only because of Riker’s beard.

2.DemetriosX

Posted June 7, 2012 at 9:08 AM

Very generous assessment from both Eugene and Toryx. For me, the plot was so utterly stupid, I just can’t get past it. As ways to start a season, this ranks right down there with “Spock’s Brain”.

I just hated Pulaski so much. Up to this point, I had generally liked Diana Muldaur. Despite her 2 previous Trek appearances, she was always Sam McCloud’s girlfriend for me. And yet here, she’s cold, brusque in ways McCoy never was, and frankly nasty. She continued to treat Data like shit for most of the season, so much so that I always had the impression it took her several episodes to get his name right. She does call him “it” for a while still. On top of that, her bedside manner is so bad (mostly later on) that she could have improved by taking lessons from Voyager’s EMH. This season ruined Muldaur for me forever, though her next major role as Rosalyn Shays on LA Law certainly didn’t help. But Pulaski helped me enjoy the later character’s plummet down an elevator shaft all the more.

Riker’s beard, on the other hand, was good. Frakes is rather baby-faced and he was still young enough 25 years ago, that he looked like a teenager. It was hard to take him seriously. The beard matured him and also put an end to the Potsie Weber jokes.

It took me a long time to warm up to Guinan, but she was a good addition. The writers’ later tendency to be all mysterious with her or use her to pick up changes to the timeline or whatever was annoying and poor writing, but generally she worked. Especially as here with her advice to Wes. And she had good chemistry with most of the crew.

Ha! There were Potsie jokes about Riker? I can totally see the comparison, but I hadn’t heard that before.

4.DeepThought

Posted June 7, 2012 at 9:50 AM

So, in addition to the obviously improved production values others have mentioned, I also find it interesting that we’re seeing so many more extras in this episode compared to last season — those two guys in the hallway, sweaty naked sleeping man, the teacher, Dr. Pulaski (heh)… but seriously, it really makes the ship feel more populated, and does something to cover the strangeness of Tasha Yar’s funeral being attended only by the bridge staff, who are apparently on duty all the time.

Also it was nice to have an episode which acknowledges that even in space, time still passes. Picard’s going to relieve Riker’s graveyard shift. They’re going to get some rest! It’s like… realism! Even if Riker fails to look remotely rumpled after presumably working most of the night… but it’s also nice to get the message that not everybody on the cast is constantly hanging out on the Bridge.

I am planning to start a new TVTropes.org page called “There is no HIPAA in Space” with this as the first example. Because, seriously? You go and make someone’s space pregnancy the topic of the next executive board meeting?? So all your colleagues can argue over what medical treatment options you should pursue???

All in all, though, Eugene’s right — I don’t know that I’d go all the way to warp 3, but this episode is much better than I remembered, for the sake of all the little things that have nothing to do with the plot. I also deeply admire Whoopi Goldberg — it takes some serious chops to engage Wesley in a dialogue that actually makes his character come off as believable and likable.

5.S. Hutson Blount

Posted June 7, 2012 at 10:56 AM

I liked Pulaski instantly, and was sad to see her go. Not for being a surrogate McCoy, but for having someone on the regular cast who’s not perfectly self-actualized and content.

Count me also in the corner support Dr Pulaski. God what a breath of fresh air it was that they had a character aboard who was an ass.
See it’s not that I’d hang on the weekend in real life with the doctor and invite her to join in my gaming, but rather she added spark and conflict to a cast that desperately needed it.
She though of Data as a machine. People think of this as so repulsive, but he is a machine and if no one thinks of him that way then you aren’t really exploring the character’s impact on his world.
As for the story itself.
*sick in the corner*

I’d be lying if I said this wasn’t better than I remembered. It was! Riker’s beard is a big improvement (though it’s odd that it goes completely unremarked upon), Wesley looks a lot older and his genius enthusiasm is tampered by some angst that makes him a lot more likable, Worf looks great, Geordi got a promotion FINALLY, and I’ve always liked Guinan (though as Demetrios said, the more they tried to make her the magical negro the worse her character became). This episode also gave me more laughs (and intentional ones) per minute than any other in the previous season. The rapport has definitely been established.

I make no bones (har har) about the fact that I dislike Pulaski. She is incompetent and nasty. What the hell is she doing bringing a potentially disturbed Troi to Ten Forward for margarita hour? She has the bedside manner of Klingon and her rudeness to Data is just inexcusable. She demonstrates no ability or expertise beyond midwifery, and treats Troi like a specimen to be studied instead of a person going through a terrifying ordeal.

As for Guinan: I especially like her scenes with Wesley, not just because she makes Wesley feel like a real person but because her advice–to be selfish–it truly revolutionary in the world she occupies. This is a communal world, where everything is done for the greater good and people regularly sacrifice themselves for others.

But (and you knew there was a but!) no one here–not even Eugene!–has mentioned that the alien pregnancy is space rape.

Troi is violated. Her body and her physical being is invaded by an alien life form that chooses her as a gestation capsule for its own curiosity, and no one is remotely disturbed by this, either here or in the episode? Have you guys even seen Alien? In the episode, Picard just cares about whether the baby is going to destroy the ship, and Riker just wants to know who she’s been seeing. But absolutely no one, not even Pulaski, confronts the fact that this child is a product of the most intimate violation. I realize no one wants to see rape counseling during primetime TV hour, but Troi doesn’t seem disturbed by what’s happened either, and it’s all sanitized by the fact that the birth is easy and she doesn’t have to ever meet or confront the “father” because the father IS the baby and she’s grown to love it because women are mommies so all is forgiven because it’s a miracle and blah blah blah.

This is easily one of the THE most disturbing episodes of TNG for me, mostly because no one else in the episode treats it as such. Instead, the whole thing is treated as some kind of miracle of life. It’s like a spaceship full of Ash duplicates from Alien. “What’s the big deal, let’s just study it!” It’s impossible for me to convey how repulsive it is to see that attitude on television, and I will never, ever forgive it. If I could point to a single episode that showed how backwards this series was on gender politics, it wouldn’t be “Angel One”–it’d be “The Child.”

Also, how is it that Guinan’s hat didn’t make Thread Alert? I love her hats!

@ 2 DemetriosX
I loved Muldaur so much in her other Star Trek appearances, which is why she disappoints me so here. She has real presence–a kind of regal, stand-at-attention charisma, and they wasted it on her being a total ass instead of just being confident and respected. She also just doesn’t look very good here, so the overall vibe is a nasty grandma one.

@ 6 bobsandiego
I don’t mind that she treats Data like a machine. The problem is that she’s not even professional about it, and she doesn’t allow her direct observation (that he’s obviously not an ordinary robot) to inform or correct her previously held assumptions. That is a serious flaw for a scientist to have.

Echoing everyone who appreciates Pulaski as being less “perfect” than everyone else. I didn’t realize it when I first saw these, but that kind of conflict among the crew is something TNG really needed, and one of the things that mostly worked about DS9.

No one would mention it unless he had just come back from shore leave and they hadn’t seen him in a while. Presumably people got used to the idea as he grew it out. But you’ve just reminded me that Geordi tries out a beard in one or two episodes later on, with much less success.

And I did call Troi’s pregnancy a violation and express surprise it wasn’t treated as such. I am in complete agreement with you and figured you’d want to discuss it anyway. It’s very creepy, especially the way the alien being enters her body. However, last night I started watching the recent Phase II version of this episode, which isn’t too terrible but also fails for other reasons. And it mentions that there are species that do survive by impregnating other species, which isn’t justification–particularly from a sentient being–but is an interesting perspective. It’s a parasitic relationship at best. In their adaptation, the glowy thing actually hovers over the Deltan’s stomach for a bit and then leaves–so it isn’t taking on the form of a baby, it’s actually creating a new life form, which is human, not Deltan. Anyway, it’s interesting.

@ 9 Eugene
I meant that you didn’t call a spade a spade–it’s rape. It’s super sanitized, but even in the episode the glowy thing pokes around under the covers and awakens her with its “surprise.”

As for impregnation as a MO for species… all I’ve got to say is you have to be a seriously gifted and nuanced writer to pull that off and not make me want to retch in the corner.

12.DemetriosX

Posted June 7, 2012 at 11:52 AM

@3 Eugene
I don’t know how widespread the Potsie jokes were, but they were certainly there in my group of friends. Let’s face it, if you hadn’t watched the right soaps or miniseries, you hadn’t seen Frakes before, while Anson Williams was everywhere in the 70s. And Potsie was a total doofus.

@4 DeepThought
You make an interesting point about the violation of Troi’s privacy, but given the highly unusual nature of the pregnancy, there is a definite security risk to the ship and it is the senior officers’ business. It does contrast, though, with the way crewmen’s health was discussed in TOS.

@6 Bob
I agree with Torie that the real problem is the way Pulaski reacts to Data more than that she treats him like a machine. If she had been creeped out by him or something, that would have been fine, some sort of uncanny valley reaction. They even address the whole man/machine thing a few episodes down the line here, but her stubborn reaction, even in the face of everyone else around her treating him as a person, just doesn’t work. It feels like a very badly done copy of the McCoy/Spock relationship and just points up the lack of originality in the character.

@Torie
I’ll grant them nobody reacting to the beard. It takes months to grow a beard like that and obviously they’ve all been around him during that period.

But, yes, SPACE RAPE! This being has totally violated Troi in every way, physically, emotionally. And why did it need to go through the whole pregnancy routine anyway? Why not just turn into a person of whatever age? Blech.

@ 12 DemetriosX
Honestly, it probably didn’t just manifest itself as a child because if it had, there’d be no rush to play mom. It totally exploited Tori’s body and maternal instincts to satisfy its own curiosity. Oh, and a science nitpick: if the baby is 100% her, as in made exclusively from her own DNA as is stated in the episode, where’d the Y chromosome come from? Though I guess if it had been a direct clone the creep factor would have been even greater.

I am at least thankful that when it came to the end of the episode, they didn’t all turn to her to be the mom replacement for Wesley.

14.Lemnoc

Posted June 7, 2012 at 12:53 PM

What was it about the early ’80s and the idea of the Celestial Madonna? The idea was just about everywhere, from comics to television to the backwaters of pop culture. Was it some kind of New Age-y trope, or were the same group of hacks going from place to place shopping the same concept? Considering how long this script was rattling around, I suspect the latter.

Despite the emphasis, it tells us nothing about Deanna and she is not changed or grown by the experience in any way.

Why introduce the idea that one of our main characters has given birth to a strange new life if you are not going to explore what it means for that character to’ve done so? The lifeform itself departs, never to be seen again, so surely the episode cannot be merely about that lifeform. Deanna serves merely as a receptacle for what is evidently a nontransformative preganancy, and that therefore amounts to a kind of cosmic rape for which there is consequences.

I’d forgotten how well the episode bridges changes that occurred between seasons, advancing and promoting a few of the characters, rapid-fire introduction of others, without wasting too much time on exposition. The new characters of Pulaski and Guinan are strongly introduced without much fanfare or tedium. It all speaks of a certain confidence with the material we didn’t see last season, when everything had to be beaten against our heads.

Weak, but competently executed.

15.Lemnoc

Posted June 7, 2012 at 1:04 PM

…er… “are no consequences.” No one cared, not even her.

New word: Troiphied.

16.S. Hutson Blount

Posted June 7, 2012 at 4:44 PM

@7 Torie: Pulaski is incompetent for the same reason Worf is: because she’s To Be Made An Example Of.

17.Lemnoc

Posted June 7, 2012 at 4:59 PM

Pulaski is incompetent for the same reason Worf is: because she’s To Be Made An Example Of.

A good observation.

Pulaski was set up to be an unlikable character because she was set in direct opposition to one of the established central, “likable” characters.

The Spock/McCoy thing built over several seasons. And it worked because they each pivoted on a special sort of familiarity and friendship with the captain. Their antagonism against each other was held in stable orbit. Importantly, Spock could easily hold his own against McCoy (and vice versa) because he was depicted as a mature command character.

Data spends much more time bumbling around as the innocent idiot. He trades acrimony with confusion and self-doubt. And there is no shared special relationship with the captain to file down the edges of Pulaski’s acrimony. Pulaski’s jibes therefore seem meanspirited.

Note that I described Pulaski as an *ass*. (Though it is not written let it be known that I am an Ass) I wasn’t saying she’s fun in the mix because she got a great and valid worldview, she is a jerk and she’s a jerk to the puppy of the crew. (Data is like a poorly thoughout Willow from Buffy, the character that the fans will react to if you hurt them.) Peole hated the idea of anyone being mean to Data, but in the military you often work with asses, worse yet these asses often have direct and real power over you. Having eneyone perfect and idealized is less believeable to me than their ‘science.’

I’m trying, and failing, to remember at what point the phrase “Oh, it’s another Troi-gets-mind-raped episode”entered the communal vocabulary of my local fan group. (Though in this ep it’s not mind-rape, but regular old body-rape.)

I do recall deciding that Riker swapped places with his mirror-universe self between the first two seasons, and nobody noticed.

20.S. Hutson Blount

Posted June 7, 2012 at 9:40 PM

@19 Avram:

Q noticed.

21.CaitieCat

Posted June 8, 2012 at 8:38 AM

I realize no one wants to see rape counseling during primetime TV hour

Yeah. Most of them are too busy watching the actual rapes, lovingly depicted in most “mature” works today *cough*GRRM/GoT*cough*. :/

I’m with Torie. This episode is Warp -6: it’s using Mirror Universe engines to accelerate backward into the Stone Age as quickly as possible.

Also, it is hard to imagine Lwaxana Troi’s daughter having an immaculate conception.

Also also, isn’t it traditional in these things to give birth in some sort of animal container? Maybe Sickbay should have been full, and they could have held the birth in the cargo bay with the plague-boxes, and an Organian, Metron, and a Talosian come by with some tchotchkes and maybe a little myrrh…

@ 14 Lemnoc
I’m glad it didn’t change Troi. If the episode had ended with her looking at a baby photo album and marking her fertility on a calendar I would have set it on fire.

@ 16 S. Hutson Blount
Too true.

@ 17 Lemnoc
The McCoy/Spock/Kirk thing was the three bears, though. This one’s too hot; this one’s too cold; this one’s just right. There was a balance going on, and the two personalities were there to temper and distinguish Kirk. Pulaski and Data play no such role here.

@ 18 bobsandiego
I really don’t see the puppy analogy. Even if you think of Data as merely a useful tool, she consistently defies her own observations in her treatment of him.

@ 19 Avram
When women are aliens, they are always telepathic. Doesn’t Kes get mind-raped a lot too?

@ 21 CaitieCat
As far as GoT goes, at least Troi isn’t thirteen years old. (Those are seriously the only books I have ever flat-out told my little sister I am not comfortable with her reading.)

If they had gone the full space Jesus on this one and made him a messiah or something, I would have almost forgiven it for being a victim of ideology. But here there’s no point. The alien does nothing.

As far as Lwaxana Troi, the two of them have always reminded me of Eddy and Saffron on Ab Fab. Though now that I think of it… isn’t it weird that she doesn’t call her mother?

23.CaitieCat

Posted June 8, 2012 at 9:59 AM

@22 Torie – oh, don’t get me rolling on GoT. I did, in fact, read the first…what, two books, maybe three? Dunno. I just sort of gritted my teeth and tried to read past…well, everything. I won’t say more here, because it’s not the thread for it, but you and I have the same take on this one.

The short version is, I don’t have a problem with rape or its consequences being depicted, in any medium. It’s a real, awful life experience, and as such, it’s worthy of artistic examination.

I object to gratuitous or stupid/easy use of it, and I think it speaks strongly of my desperation for a woman character who wasn’t Maiden/Mommy/Whore (Crones don’t get a look-in on TV) that I was wishing Yar had been kept, despite, as Torie rightly rejects, being a walking cliche of awfulness for a background.

Further in this thread to this, deponent saith not. But yeah, Torie, I get you on this one.

@ 23 Cait
Clearly we need to rant at each other at some point. It’s been a difficult few months, watching the show pick up speed and everyone on the train devouring the books.

But at least GoT makes rape seem horrible most of the time, instead of miraculous, like it is here.

25.Ludon

Posted June 10, 2012 at 11:30 PM

No one yet has pointed out that the ‘A’ plot here was a badly done variation of an idea used in the mediocre “Alpha Child” episode of Space: 1999. In that episode, the naturally conceived child was taken over by an alien life form either during , shortly before, or after birth and the alien has done so for a more interesting reason than just being curious – it’s the vanguard of an invading force.

Put me in the camp of Dr. Pulaski fans. She was a real worlder dropped onto the USS Pleasantville where everyone was just so gosh-durn nice to each other. (If anyone did anything wrong, usually, it took only a talk with Daddy Picard to work things out.) Was she a perfect character? Hardly. Was she a noticeable character? Yes. Love her or hate her, you noticed her. Had she been inserted into the series during a later season when the other characters were more developed I might not have liked her as much but in the second season I saw her as the most interesting character.

26.Toryx

Posted June 11, 2012 at 10:33 AM

Cait @ 23 and Torie @ 24:

I’m a huge fan of the GoT books for a lot of reasons but the way the TV show handles a lot of the misogyny has been a big disappointment to me. I think that the books present it in an important way. Rape is a matter of fact aspect of that society and the books (imho) really spotlights the horror of it and in a very powerful way illustrates how far our so-called civilized society still has to go.

The tv show glosses over a lot of that and sometimes seems to use it as an excuse for nudity which, frankly, sickens me. Even that, though, is handled more appropriately than what happens with Troi, where no one in the show even considers the violation that she’s suffered. At the very least, there should have been comment about how Troi, as ship’s counselor, has absolutely no one to talk to about it. It’s not like she has any sort of relationship with Dr. Pulaski yet.

Of course, the show also makes it a wonderful thing for Troi which is even worse.

Ludon @ 25: Since the plot was taken from a Star Trek Phase II script, the Space 1999 episode probably came from the same source. The shows for the two episodes are technically cousins.

Had she been inserted into the series during a later season when the other characters were more developed I might not have liked her as much but in the second season I saw her as the most interesting character.

I think that says less about Pulaski’s virtues than it does about the dreadful quality of the show.

@ 16 Toryx
We’re going to have to agree to disagree here. I haven’t seen the show and am speaking about the books.

28.CaitieCat

Posted June 11, 2012 at 11:09 AM

Thanks, Torie, that’s much the best response I could make. I’ve not seen the show, I have read (and purchased first-hand, and sold) the books, and my thoughts thereon are long-considered and deeply-felt, and quite possibly.probably at odds with a number of you.

For the ongoing and much-loved civility of our prized little home here, I’m going to leave the topic lie. I am not capable of discussing it with the dispassion required to maintain that civility, for reasons I will also not go into, and I don’t choose to put Torie and Eugene in the position of having to censure me for that inability; it’s not fair to them.

I hope you can all understand and respect that. You are welcome to have the discussion yourselves; I won’t read it.

29.dep1701

Posted June 11, 2012 at 10:56 PM

@26@25; “Alpha Child would have been written in 1973 as “Space:1999” went into production on the other side of the pond from America, so there’s very little chance that they were based on the same story.

However, I would say that they might have spawned in the same ocean; the one that produced “The Midwich Cuckoos” ( filmed as “Village Of The Damned” ) . Of the two, “Alpha Child” has more in common with “Cuckoos” and “Damned” than does “The Child”, but all three start with the same basic idea of an alien children from human births.

The usual Trekkian trope that this is basically an alien who doesn’t mean to be evil, but is merely misguided, doesn’t quite fly,since as everyone else has pointed out, this episode has at it’s base a celestial rape.

30.dep1701

Posted June 11, 2012 at 11:11 PM

RE: Pulaski – I like Diana Muldaur and would have welcomed the addition of Pulaski more if, as others have noted, she wasn’t such an obvious McCoy clone. The antagonism towards Data was poorly written, and the aversion to the transporter was too close for comfort.

Now what might have made that bit work is if it became a running gag throughout the various series that most Starfleet Doctors ( Crusher, Nurse Ogawa, Bashir, etc… ) had a basic mistrust of transporters because of their medical training…maybe they knew something the average person didn’t even think about. Then you would have had someone like Dr.S’Tlar,who wasn’t bothered because she was Vulcan and found the basis for the fear irrational and illogical.

I agree that a character like Pulaski was needed to shake things up a bit. She had such potential, but it was ill-developed. A shame.

I don’t remember this episode at all, and I had the same reaction Torie had to the space rape scene. First I was surprised they went there, then I was pissed that they went there since they decided not to actually go there at all. When she was sitting in the briefing room looking frankly very upset, I assumed it was because she’d been so violated and she was about to beg to get this monster out of her NOW, not because, as was apparently the case, she was falling in love with her parasitical rapist/offspring.

Why are there puppies on a starship?

About Pulaski. I really think it would have been interesting to bring her on, not as Gates McFadden’s replacement, but as the Chief Engineer. Her terrible bedside manner and her incurious, practically unscientific take on Data seem more appropriate to an engineer than a seasoned medical doctor.